


Endgame AU

by Mao_na



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 08:23:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18735265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mao_na/pseuds/Mao_na
Summary: This is an Avengers Endgame alternate universe fic. Some might call it a "fix it fic".Enjoy!





	Endgame AU

“I don’t want to go…” I sobbed into Stark’s chest, as he embraced me tightly. We stumbled onto the ground. So this is it then? I thought. I failed him. What else could I say but “I’m sorry.” Then my body turned to dust.

And I blinked open my eyes.

I opened my eyes expecting Tony to still be there by my side, still holding onto me. Except he wasn’t.

I instantly sat up. Huh? What? He was just there. Wait. Don’t tell me… Did he vanish too? Did he turn to dust? No. Oh God, please no –

“Is everyone awake?” Suddenly I heard a deep voice say, cutting off my thoughts. I turned to the person speaking. It was Dr Strange, standing somber a few feet away in silence.

“Uh, yeah. What the hell happened?” Quill asked, slowly propping himself up, rubbing his head.

“I feel a disturbance in time…” The antenna girl said. What was her name again? Uh… Mantis, right?

“Correct. We are five years into the future.”

“What?” Quill blurted out. “Excuse me?” He stood up. “Did I hear that right? Five years?” He waved his hands as he exclaimed. “Not 10 minutes. One week. But years?!” He uttered in disbelief. “Like, in actual years? Even though it feels like one second.” To be honest, that was my reaction too. I’m just as surprised as he is. 

“They are fighting Thanos. We have to go help them.” 

“What?” Quill exclaimed. “They still haven’t won? Even 5 years later?!”

They've been in constant battle for this long and we weren't able to help them? I clenched my fist.

“They defeated him. But now they’re fighting him again. Now enough chat, I’ll open the portals and we need to hurry.” Dr Strange started up his strange magic, doing motions with his hands, and those big round sparkly circles appeared. 

“Oh, you don’t need to tell me twice.” Quill retorted, getting his suit and equipment ready.

I stood up and walked towards Dr Strange, also getting my suit ready.

“Let’s go pound him to dust!” Drax interjected, punching his hand, getting pumped up.

“Woah there,” Quill stopped him, lifting a hand. “You can’t just say that.” He learned towards him, one hand hiding his mouth, and quietly added “Dust is a sensitive word.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“All right. We’ll be able to go in a minute.” Dr Strange said, his gaze on the portals.

I stared at the portals too. I hope everyone’s doing okay, and holding up. I hope Mr Stark is fine.

“Peter.” Dr Strange said. I looked up at him curiously.

“Don’t let your friend die this time.” He said simply. I felt confused, and worried, and… 

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Which friend?” I tensed up. He knows something.

He sighed. He let go of his portals and came to stand right in front of me. He put his hands on my head, and all of a sudden a flash happened and I saw something. A scene it seemed like. People were fighting, blood and cries everywhere. This must be the battle with Thanos. Then I saw it. Tony put on the gauntlet. No! Don’t tell me! Power surged through his arm. He lifted his hand and. “I’m Iron man.” A huge flash of light blew up. And then it all happened again. People turned to dust. But this time it was just the enemy. I saw myself rush toward Tony.

“We won, Mr Stark. We won.” But he didn’t reply. He didn’t move. No… This can’t be, no! And the memory ended. Tears were streaming down my face. I couldn’t stop it. Is this what was going to happen? I looked up at Dr Strange. He looked back down at me, somber. No, I couldn’t let that happen.

I vigorously wiped my eyes with my arm. I need to focus, get serious, if I want to be able to protect him. My expression turned serious. And I held back Dr Strange’s look.

“I won’t let that happen.” I said. “I promise.” He nodded back.

“Now let’s go, everyone.” He called out. The portals were now connected to that said battle. I gathered my courage, a new surge of determination rushed through me. Let’s do this!

We rushed through the portal, I jumped through and landed square on the cold ground, on my hands and feet. I stood up. Everyone else was here! Literally everyone! It’s as if the entire universe had gathered to this one spot. I felt a tingle of excitement, to be able to be a part of this, fighting along side so many super heros! So many amazing people! And I couldn’t help but smile. However. My smile dropped. I can’t forget my new found mission. I turned my mask on. “Time to be Mr Stark’s personal body guard.” I crouched in fighting position. In different circumstances, I wonder if he would be proud? And then, the signal.

“Avengers. Assemble!” At once, a battle cry. And everyone rushed down, towards the enemy. I shot my spider webs out as I ran, to give me momentum and jumped through the air. What I had to do was make sure Tony didn’t get the gauntlet. So my plan was to get hold of it and bring it to safety. I looked around, looking for that said gauntlet as I jumped through the air, but couldn’t see it. There was too much chaos, too many people fighting.

Before I could finish my thought, a huge blow slammed me to the ground. One of those aliens was now on top of me, raising one of it’s sharp legs, about to stab through me. Quick as reflex, I rolled over just as it’s claw slammed down inches from my body, and shot my webs at it’s face, then at it’s legs, and it stumbled away. I got up and huffed. It finally dawned on me how serious this was. They’re not playing around, they really do intend to kill us.

I jumped back again flying through the air. The air maybe was a tad bit safer I noticed. Then I noticed something else, and my eyes widened. Tony got slammed to the ground. I instantly rushed over, shot my webs to stop the enemy from hitting him again, and jerked the string backwards to make them fall over. I jumped down and ran up to him, giving him a hand to help him up. He took my hand and I pulled him up. There he was, alive and well. We both stared at each other, gaping in silence. The scene where he laid on the ground flashed before my eyes. I couldn’t get it out of my head… But that hadn’t happened yet. I needed to stay calm and focused. And no matter what, I won’t let that scene happen. Even though to me it had only been minutes since I last saw him, it didn’t feel that way anymore after what I saw.

I suddenly wanted to hug him, to make sure he was alright, that he was fine. But to my big surprised he went for the hug first. He leaned over and wrapped his arms around me into a strong embrace. I couldn’t believe it. I stood there bewildered for a minute, processing what was going on. But then I remembered it had been 5 years. 5 years since he last saw me, whereas for me it’s only been a few minutes. And yet I already missed him just as much as he missed me. I hugged him back. It felt warm.

“This is nice…” I murmured, face in his chest, my hands holding tightly onto his back. Tears were threatening to come back again, but I knew I couldn’t cry. Not yet. Focus. I need to focus. 

After a few minutes of hug, Tony let go. I wish we could have stayed like that longer.

“Alright, enough hugs, we got a job to do.” He said, and gave me a pat on the shoulder. He still looked at me with kind eyes as he said that. I smiled back at him.

“Good to see you again.” He murmured.

“It’s good to be back.” I said, happy. And just as I said that an alien almost slammed into us, but we caught it quick as reflex before it could, and threw it off. 

He dove straight back into battle, and I followed close behind as back up, to protect his back. After a few quick minutes, he noticed.

“Hey, Pete. You don’t need to be my body-guard.” He commented while shooting at the enemy. He got me. “You can go help someone who needs it more. I’m fine.”

“Nope. I’m staying with you Mr Stark.” I stated, as I threw another enemy across air.

He gave me a weird look, glancing over his shoulder. We continued to fight our way through the chaos.

After a few more minutes, he said again: “Like I said, I’m fine.”

“I’m staying with you.” I repeated and slammed two enemies together. He said nothing, but I could tell he was suspicious. He gave me another weird look.

He then frowned and ranted in annoyance. “Why are you acting stubborn now of all times?”

I was about to say a joke, but before I could answer we received a message.

“Cap! What do you want me to do with this damn thing?” It was Clint’s voice. That’s right, the gauntlet!

“Get those stones as far away as possible!”

“No!” Hulk interrupted. “We need to get them back where they came from.”

“No way to get them back, Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel.” Tony said, still shooting at the enemy, while I wrapped them up in webs just a few feet away from him.

“Hold on!” Ant-man uttered. “That wasn’t our only time machine.” Suddenly, I heard a honking music.

“Anyone seen an ugly brown van up there?” Captain America.

“Yes.” The Valkyrie said. “But you’re not going to like where it’s parked.”

“Scot. How long do you need to get that think working?” Tony asked.

“Uh. Maybe ten minutes.”

“Get started, we’ll get the stones to you.”

“We’re on it, Cap.” The Wasp replied. And thus everyone was on their way.

Now’s my chance to get the gauntlet!

“Let’s go!” Tony Stark announced, looking at me, and flew off. I trailed not far behind. We were heading towards the gauntlet. But suddenly Tony made a slight detour. Where is he going? He headed down and went to join Dr Strange. Oh, I thought. Not the person I wanted to see.

I landed a little distance behind, so as to not get too much attention to myself. And so that I could still look out for Tony’s back.

“Hey.” He took off his helmet. Not a good idea… I started getting antsy. Should we really be stopping here to chat?

“You said 1 out of 14 000 we win, yeah?” He looked serious. I haven’t seen him this serious in a long time. He paused, and added: “Tell me this is it.”

“If I tell you what happens, it won’t happen.” Dr Strange said gravely.

Iron man looked like he understood what that meant. “You better be right.” He said, and gave a curt nod, before flying off again.

Dr Strange then stared right into my eyes. His expression probably said something like ‘don’t srew it up’. I won’t. I promised. Yet even though I tried to convince myself everything was going to be fine, for some reason I just kept feeling more and more anxious as everything unraveled.

I jumped up in the air to rejoin with Tony. Everything was going so fast! Everything will be decided in a split second! I can’t let that slip! My heart was racing, more with anxiety rather than the running. I realized that everything – the state of this world, laid in my hands… But that gave me the motivation I needed. I absolutely can’t screw this up! I won’t allow it!

As I rejoined with Tony, I noticed everyone was passing the gauntlet around to their peers to make sure it reached save destination. And finally, when we were close enough, it came up to us!

“Heads up, Stark!” Quill yelled, as he threw the gauntlet over like a ruby ball. Tony prepared to catch it mid air, but I snatched it with my web and brought it to me first, catching it in my arms.

“This is mine, thanks!” I said and sprung towards the truck.

“What the hell?!” I heard Tony yell. And I could also hear the anger very clearly in his voice. “So that’s why you were tailing me!” He exclaimed, zooming towards me. I looked over my shoulder as I was running. He was glaring at me with deadly intensity. Now I know why you shouldn’t make him mad.

“What do you plan on doing with that?” He demanded. “It’s dangerous, give it to me!”

“I know it’s dangerous, I’m not dumb!” I yelled back. I almost missed being slammed by another alien, but dodged it at the last minute. Keep your eyes focused on the front! I told myself.

Enemies came rushing towards me. I tried to dodge and hit them as much as I could, but holding a huge metal arm really hinders you, and I wasn’t at my full capacity because of it. Suddenly a giant arm swung at me and plummeted me to the ground with a big thud. “URGH!” I almost dropped the gauntlet, but used my webs at the last second to get it back.

“Parker! Over here!” Thor motioned me to throw it over to him. I was stuck and couldn’t do anything right now, so I had to hand it over, no matter how much I didn’t want to… I threw it over to him, and he caught it easily.

“Whatever you do, don’t give it to Tony!” I yelled back.

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Tony flew up to me. He pulverized the big beast on top of me with a beam and stayed in the air right above my head as he talked to me. “Okay look. I don’t know what the flying fuck has gotten into you. But once all this is over, you’re going to be very much grounded, and we’ll have a looong chat, you and me. But right now I don’t have time for your bullshit, so it’ll have to wait.” And with that he flew off.

I slowly got up, my head hanging low. For once in my entire live, I wanted to get grounded. Because it would mean he would be there…

I got back on track and headed for the gauntlet once again. As I got closer, I noticed Black Panther had it, but it looked like he was having trouble and was about to lose it.

“I got it!” I yelled and shot my webs out. He threw it to me and I easily caught it. I flew past him and landed square on top an enemies’ head. “Activate Instant kill.” I ordered. My eyes turned red and my mechanical spider-legs started doing their magic, piercing through all the enemies. Heh, this is easy! I thought, as the legs slashed and cut through the aliens. “I got this! I got this!” But just as I got my hopes up, I noticed I was slowly getting overwhelmed by all the enemies. There’s too many of them! “Okay, I don’t got this… Help! Somebody help!”

Suddenly I heard Captain America. “Hey, Queens. Heads up.” He said, and threw Mjolnir my way. I caught it at the right moment and went flying off with it. But one of the beams cut me off and just as I was about to land, Pepper caught me. “Hang on, I got you kid.” She said. Just as I was about to thank her, she threw me up in the air. If this weren’t a dire situation, I’d enjoy this little ride I’m getting. I landed on a flying horse, and next to a Valkyrie. “Hey, nice to meet yo- Oh My God!” This was either the best or worst roller coaster ride of my life. But just as I thought things were going well, a bomb hit us, sending us to the ground. I made sure to catch the gauntlet, and landed on the ground with a thud. Beams were shooting from everywhere, I could barely see anything. One landed centimeters from my face, almost toasting me. I curled up, trying to protect myself.

But suddenly the beams stopped. I opened my eyes. I took that moment to grab the gauntlet and look up. The ship was being destroyed. Completely destroyed. It lost it’s power and crashed into the lake.

Suddenly, a lady flew straight down towards me and landed at my feet. Something that I wasn’t expecting.

“Uh, hey – hi. I’m… Peter Parker…” 

“Hey, Peter Parker. You got something for me?”

Oh. I guess she’s the cavalry then. I slowly got up, trying to steady myself up. I looked around. So many enemies. Where there always that many?

“I don’t know how you’re going to get it through all of that.” I said. But suddenly, other heros arrived.

“Don’t worry. She’s got help.” They said, and then marched forward. I followed them from behind. As much as I believed in them, I couldn’t take the chance to let the gauntlet out of my sight. For some reason, I had a really bad feeling...

Captain Marvel shot forward at full forced. Bursting through the enemy and ships as if they were nothing. Woah… So badass! I thought. I wish I could do that. She was getting closer to the truck. She’s almost there!

But just as she was about to reach it, a huge explosion happened! The forced was so strong, it pushed everyone out. I was sent flying back by it, but I shot my webs out to grab onto something and managed to land on my feet. Once the shock wave was done, I turned my head towards the scene to see what just happened. And my eyes widened in horror at what was in front of me. The gauntlet was out in the open. And Tony & Thanos were both right by it.

NO! I sprung at full forced, at full speed towards it. Nothing was more important to me than this moment right now! I shot my webs at lightning speed, I jumped as high as I could. I did everything to get there and be there on time!

Everything happened so fast. Tony tried to grab it, but Thanos pushed him off. I was almost there… Thor landed in between and started fighting Thanos. I’m almost there! Captain America landed on Thanos’ back. I’m there! I slid underneath them, right in-between their legs, and snatched the gauntlet! I squeezed it tightly and launched myself into the air. Thankfully Thanos didn’t notice me, and when he freed himself from Thor & Captain, he looked around, confused, for the gauntlet. Right at that moment, Captain Marvel landed by his side and sung a full punch at him. He managed to stop it, and they entered a fistfight.

I ran as far away as I could from them. My brain was on overdrive, I was sweeting, panting, but I didn’t care. Adrenaline rushed through my body, this was the moment, now or never!

“Peter!” I heard a voice call me. With all the chaos around, I didn’t instantly recognize it. I deactivated the headpiece and looked over my shoulder and saw... Tony. Of course. This time he didn’t say anything, he was just heading straight towards me, at full speed. He was going a lot faster than me, so in a matter of seconds he would get to me. I was too exhausted to try to over speed him. But I had to think of something… And that’s when an idea popped up.

“Stop! Don’t get any closer!” I swung around to face him and stood my ground, feet firmly down. I took the gauntlet and brought it right up to my hand, indicating that I was going to put it on.

“Don’t you dare!” He snapped. I could read fear and anguish on his face, mixed with his anger.

“Then don’t take another step closer or I will!” I ordered, readying the gauntlet right over my hand.

He instantly stopped flying towards me and slowly landed on the ground. He took his helmet off and his hand was up. “Don’t do it.” He said, extremely wary. He took small tentative steps towards me.

“Stop. Stop walking!” I said firmly

“Okay.” He said, and he stopped. 

We stood like this, a few meters away from each other, face to face, in silence.

Finally he spoke up. “Why are you doing this, Pete?” His anger had mostly entirely been replaced with worry instead. He really didn’t understand what was going on…

“I can’t let you have it, Tony…” I said in a quiet voice.

“Why?” He inquired.

“Because I can’t let you die.” I lowered my hands. Tears threatened to emerge. But I had to stay strong…

And then realization hit him. His eyes widened and he finally understood why I’d been doing this. Why I wasn’t allowing him to have the gauntlet.

“Does that mean… You’ve seen how it ends? You’ve seen the future?” He asked. His face showed mixed emotions. I’m guessing he doesn’t know how to feel about that. “And in that future, I…”

I nodded.

He sighed. “Now I get it.” He paused. Is he finally going to understand? I wondered. Will he listen to me now? Will he try not to use it? I suddenly felt hopeful that things might change…

“It’s what has to be done.” He said, looking down.

What? “No, it doesn’t!” I declared. I gripped the gauntlet tightly. Anger started rising up inside me. So he won’t listen… Is that how it’s going to be then?

“Yes it does!” He looked back up at me, his expression back to annoyance and resentment. “Because it’s the only way!” He waved his hands in the air. “Don’t you remember what Dr Strange said?!” His voice rose as he spoke. “Out of all the billions of outcomes, there’s only one where we win! That means the only way for us to win is for me to use it!” He exclaimed.

“That’s not true!” I yelled back.

“Yes it-”

“When Dr Strange showed me the future, he told me to save you!” I cried out, cutting him off, my hands gripped in a tight fist. “That means, there’s a way! There’s a way to win AND to save you!” I finished, crying. I just couldn’t keep my tears in anymore…

“Wait, what?” Tony blurted out. “He told you there’s another way…?” Tony’s mouth gapped slightly open. He then looked away and muttered to himself. “But, how…”

“I don’t know, but there’s a way, so please. Please, just listen to me! Just this one time!” I begged.

He stared back at me. He looked lost.

 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

 

The war kept on raging. It felt like it would never end.

“We need more backup!” Monk Wong said.

“And who do you think we can ask? Do you know more people?” Dr Strange inquired.

“We could ask that other Asgardian king?”

Dr Strange’s gaze darkened. Oh no… not him… He thought.

Too late. A portal had already been formed. And in a few seconds, a tall black haired man emerged from it. He slowly scanned the horizon with his usual unreadable expression – you could never really know what he was thinking. And once he had found his target he flew off into the air so quickly, as if he had never been there in the first place. 

Dr Stange shook his head slightly, but decided to focus on the fight instead.

“I know more people too!” A woman commented, and another portal opened.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Thor was smashing heads with his ax, something rather normal for him, and would crush enemies one after the other. Although, to be honest, he was getting slightly tired, and hoped the war would be ending soon. 

Suddenly he saw a dark flash out of the corner of his eye and turned towards it. That said dark flash shot multiple enemies at once before landing right in front of him. Smiling.

“Good day to you, brother.”

Thor couldn’t believe his eyes. “What the hell are you doing here?!” He demanded, as he smashed another alien.

“Well, when I heard you were in trouble, I had to come and see.” Loki explained. “Every time I have a chance to see you suffer, I enjoy myself.” He added, amused.

“Of course you do…” Thor replied, as he swung another enemy across the air.

This battle was not turning out the way he was expecting it too.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------- 

 

Tony was silent. He and I stood there, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to do… Well, I knew what I needed to do. But the question was, was he going to let me? I didn’t know.

“Listen kid…” he began, looking off to the side.

But before he could finish his sentence, Captain Marvel came flying through the sky and landed right beside us.

“Hey guys.” She said. “More back up came along. So that means that now that we got more back up for the little guys, all of us can focus on the big guy over there.” She pointed her thumb towards Thanos, who was currently being swarmed by the Avengers; Captain America, Hulk, Quill, Thor, Clint, Ant-man, and so on. They were all shooting at him or hitting him and they seemed to never let him catch his breath.

Suddenly, a surge or hope and excitement rushed through me. I stood up straighter; I could feel my energy coming back to me. This! This was the sight I had hoped to see, and it was finally coming together! There was a finally a change! A chance to win this! I couldn’t help but smile at the thought, my eyes shinning.

I looked back at Tony. He too seemed pleased with the sight. He then nodded to Captain Marvel. “Alright then, thanks for letting us know.” He said and she flew off to join the team. Tony looked at me. 

“Okay kid…” He started, and trailed off. “I guess we really will be putting our conversation on hold for later. Don’t think you’re off the hook.” He gave me a small smile.

“I know.” I said, and smiled back at him. He put his helmet on and rose up into the air. He looked back at me. “You’ll need to keep guarding that gauntlet, just like you’ve been doing for me.” He said. “Don’t let anyone else have it.”

“I won’t!” I replied, and with that he flew off.

I also readied myself and shot my webs.

The battle raged on. But this time, we out numbered them! Which means we were steadily gaining control. After another half hour of fighting, the Avengers were finally able to defeat Thanos. Once Thanos had been defeated, his troops forfeited when their leaded no longer was. It was pointless for them to fight now, so we were able to drive them back, out of our home.

Even though everyone was exhausted, we still celebrated our victory. It was, after all, one of the biggest battles in the entire universe – in all of the universes! Just thinking about that gives me goosbumps. I still can’t believe I was part of the biggest battle in all of history. That is definitely something I won’t forget. 

“Good job, everyone!” I heard people cheer. We all hugged each other, and said goodbye to the people who were going back home. And then it was our turn to return home.

“You coming kiddo?” Tony said.

“Yeah.”

 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

A week later. All the avengers had gather together at Stark’s place. No one really knows why, that’s just how it ended up.

There were people in the yard, drinking and talking and just enjoying themselves. Other people were inside, laying on the couch. Morgan was playing with her toys.

Tony and Dr Strange were farther away from everyone else, talking just the two of them. It appeared to be confidential.

“Okay, so listen.” Tony started. “Before I go yell at the kid, I wanted to know the facts from you first.” He inquired. Dr Strange listened patiently.

“Was is true you showed him a future?”

“Yes.”

“But why?”

And Strange went on a long explanation. “As you probably know, in the first defeat of Thanos, you died. Peter had then tried several time-jumps to try and change fate; 4 times in fact. 4 different timelines.”

Tony Stark’s eyes widened.

“Multiple time jumps cause many casualties: several rips in time & space. I couldn’t let that keep happening, I couldn’t let him keep destroying timelines over and over again, since Peter was willing to keep going until he got what he wanted. Which is why I showed Peter I how to save you in the first timeline before he could start destroying timelines.” 

When Dr Strange was done, Tony leaned on the counter, as he took it all in. And after a moment of silence, he spoke up. “Could you show me, those different timelines that Peter jumped?” He asked, in a quiet voice. 

Dr Strange said nothing, and just showed him.

There he was, lying on the ground.

“Hey, Mr Stark. It’s Peter… Hey…” Peter put his hand on his shoulder. “We won. We won, Mr Stark.” He said, his eyes in tears.

Then Pepper. “Tony… We’re going to be okay.”

Then the funeral. He really didn’t like watching himself die.

The Captain returned the stones.

The next day Peter came back.

“I was wondering.” Peter started, eyes down, face somber. “I’d like to use your time machine.”

Rhodey sighed. “You know you can’t just ask that.”

“I want to bring him back.” Peter said, more firmly this time, looking at him in the eyes. His own eyes teary.

“We can’t…” Sam said.

“Don’t you miss him?!” Peter exclaimed, tears steaming down his face.

“Of course we do, everyone does!” Rhodey replied back.

“Then please…”

Rhodey shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Fine… I understand.” Peter walked away, head down, hands in pockets.

“Hey, Peter, come on...” Sam interjected. But Peter ignored them.

Later that night, Peter had decided to sneak in and use it.

He landed in the middle of the battle with Thanos. He had tried to prevent Tony from using it, but had failed.

“No!” He yelled. “No, no, no, no… This isn’t suppose to happen.” But it was too late, Tony had already used the gauntlet.

Peter tried a second and third time, but had still failed.

The flashback ended.

“This is why I needed to intervene.” Dr Strange commented. “I intervened in the first timeline, before any of this had happened. Because if he had continue to do this over and over again, he would have ripped time & space apart. And I’m sure you know, that is a very bad thing.”

“Yeah, I know…” Tony added, looking down at the floor, his hands behind his back, leaning against the counter.

After a pause, he spoke up. “Thanks for telling me all this.”

Dr Strange nodded. “I think it was a good decision to let you know.”

Otherwise Peter would be the only one with this knowledge, Tony thought to himself. It could end up eating at him.

“Well, now I need to go talk to that kid, and give him a good scolding.” Tony said, and stood up straight.

“He needs it.” Dr Strange agreed.

And with that Tony went to get Peter.

“Hey, Pete.” Tony waved at him. Peter looked back questioningly & curiously. “Come here.” Peter followed and they headed upstairs to his room.

Tony went to sit on the bed. “Come sit right here.”

“What’s the matter Mr Stark?” Peter asked a bit worried.

“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough.”

Then Peter remembered. Oh, the scolding. That’s right. He sighed and went to sit next to him.

“Yes, I know…” Peter began. “I messed up. I screwed up-”

“Hey. I didn’t ask you. So let me talk.” Tony interjected. Peter went silent, staring at the floor.

“Listen kid.” Tony started, and put his arm around Peter’s shoulder. “What you did was very brave.” Peter looked up at him, questioningly. “It was.” Tony added. “I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t.” Peter felt a small smile appearing on his lips.

“You wanted to do the right thing. You always do.” Tony continued, and gave him a little rub.

“But you have to see that what you did was still really irresponsible.” Tony continued. “You were trying to help me, I know. But what if you had died instead?” Tony explained. “We were just lucking you didn’t.”

“So next time...” Tony pinched Peter’s cheeks.

“Ow.” Peter laughed.

“…Don’t go running off and doing your own thing.” Tony let go.

“But what if another situation like this happens again?” Peter inquired, looking back at him in worry.

“You’re not going to like my answer, but leave it to us, experts. You’re just a newbie” And a kid, he thought. “We can’t have our newbies sacrificing themselves just ‘cause they want to.”

Peter looked away.

“Once you’ve gotten more experience we can talk about it again. But until then, if another life and death situation happens, you are not allowed to partake in it. Period.” Tony affirmed. “No matter how nobble it may seem.”

Peter stayed silent, looking at the floor tiles.

Tony sighed and added. “I’m sorry. I know you don’t like my answer, and maybe you’d like to find a compromise. But there’s just no compromise in a life or death situation, kiddo.”

“Yeah. I get it…” Peter murmured, playing with the hem of his shirt.

“Peter.” Tony looked at him seriously. “Are you just saying that to please me?” He commented.

Peter looked back at Tony. “No, I get it, I do.” He paused. “I just hope it doesn’t happen again…” He looked back down.

Tony had decided that was enough for today. Maybe he'll try again tomorrow.

“Hey, come here.” He pulled him into a hug, patting him on the back. Peter hugged back too. “Are we good?” Tony asked.

“We’re good.” Peter answered, the smile returning to his face.

“Good.” Tony let him go, but Peter was still holding on.

“Come on…” Peter complained, face still on his shoulder. “That was a two second hug. Can I have one a little longer than that?”

“Fine, you win!” Tony retorted, and hugged him back again.

“Great!” Peter cheered.


End file.
